Collapsible drawer

ABSTRACT

A collapsible drawer includes a left, a right, a rear, and a front wall being connected at respective lower edge to a left, a right, a rear, and a front edge of a bottom wall to be pivotally turnable relative to the bottom wall between an upright and a folded-down position. A left and a right hook are provided on an inner face of each of the front and the rear wall, and the left and right walls are formed on respective inner face with a front and a rear through hole corresponding to the left and right hooks on the front and rear walls, respectively. By extending the left and right hooks through the front and rear through holes on the left and right walls, the left and right walls are locked to between the front and rear walls in an upright position.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a collapsible drawer, which can befolded into a flattened state for easy storage and transport.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A storage device internally defines a space for receiving articlestherein. The inner space of the storage device has direct relation withan overall volume of the storage device. The larger the inner space is,the larger the volume of the cabinet is.

There is a commercially available chest of drawers having a standupouter case and multiple drawers slidably mounted in the outer case. Inthe event the outer case is of a fixed type that does not allow a userto disassemble it, the chest of drawers would occupy a large volume andis uneasy to transport. Therefore, the outer cases of most currentlycommercially available chests of drawers are of a knockdown type toenable reduced space and cost needed to store and transport the chestsof drawers.

However, the drawers for such chests also have a fixed volume to resultin a relatively large packing size. In order to reduce the packing sizeof drawers, some drawers have been designed with flared walls andaccordingly, an expanded top and a reduced bottom to enable easystacking of the drawers. Due to the flared walls, gaps are createdbetween the outer case and the drawers slidably mounted in the outercase. This leads to a poor appearance and lowered quality of theproduct.

In view of the problems with the conventional non-foldable drawers, itis tried by the inventor to develop a collapsible drawer, which can havea largely reduced overall volume in a collapsed state to facilitate easystorage, warehousing, and transport thereof. Therefore, the collapsibledrawer can be used with various types of sectional racks to largelyreduce an overall packing size of the sectional racks to save a largeamount of freight cost thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a collapsibledrawer, which can be collapsed from an extended state into a flattenedstate to minimize the space occupied by the drawer and enable easystorage and transport of the drawer.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a collapsibledrawer, which has good structural strength when being fully extended andis therefore reliable for use.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a collapsibledrawer, which is usable with a knockdown chest of drawers and sectionalrack available in the market. With the collapsibility of the drawers andthe easily assembled and disassembled sectional rack and chest ofdrawer, the whole rack and chest of drawer can be collapsed to largelyreduce the total packing size thereof and facilitate easy and economicalwarehousing and transport thereof.

To achieve the above and other objects, the collapsible drawer of thepresent invention is convertible between an extended state for use and aflattened state for storage. The collapsible drawer includes a bottomwall, a left wall, a right wall, a rear wall, and a front wall. Thefront wall, the left wall, the right wall, and the rear wall arepivotally connected at respective lower edge to a front edge, a leftedge, a right edge, and a rear edge of the bottom wall, so as to bepivotally turnable relative to the bottom wall between an uprightposition and a folded-down position.

In the collapsible drawer of the present invention, a left hook and aright hook are provided on an inner face of each of the front wall andthe rear wall. The left and right walls are formed on respective innerface with a front and a rear through hole at positions corresponding tothe left and right hooks on the front wall and the rear wall. The leftand right hooks on the front wall and the rear wall can be extendedthrough the front and rear through holes on the left and right walls, sothat the left and right walls are locked to between the front wall andthe rear wall when these walls are in the upright position.

In the collapsible drawer of the present invention, the left and righthooks on the front wall and the rear wall respectively have a forkedU-shaped distal hooking end with two spaced free ends being compressibletoward each other. The distal hooking ends are provided on respectivetwo free ends at two opposite outer sides thereof with a verticallyprotruded rib each. The left and right hooks are extended through thefront and rear through holes on the left and right walls with theprotruded ribs abutted on an outer peripheral wall of the front and rearthrough holes, preventing the left and right walls from separating fromthe front wall and the rear wall.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present inventionto achieve the above and other objects can be best understood byreferring to the following detailed description of the preferredembodiment and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an assembled front perspective view of a collapsible draweraccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded rear perspective view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the connection of a left wall to a bottom wall of thecollapsible drawer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows the connection of a right wall to the bottom wall of thecollapsible drawer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 shows the connection of a rear wall to the bottom wall of thecollapsible drawer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a rear perspective view of the collapsible drawer according toFIG. 1 with the left wall removed therefrom;

FIG. 7 is a bottom perspective view showing the bottom wall of thecollapsible drawer according to FIG. 1 with the rear wall and a frontwall connected thereto;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the collapsible drawer of FIG. 1 withthe left and the right wall thereof in a folded-down position;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view showing the rightwall is moved across a right hook on the rear wall;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the collapsible drawer of FIG. 1 withthe left wall thereof in a folded-down position;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view showing the leftwall is moved across a left hook on the front wall;

FIG. 12 is a partially sectioned rear view showing the left and righthooks on the rear wall are extended through rear through holes on theleft and right walls;

FIG. 13 is a partially sectioned front view showing the left and righthooks on the front wall are extended through front through holes on theleft and right walls; and

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the collapsible drawer of FIG. 1in a fully collapsed state.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A collapsible drawer according to the present invention can be extendedfor use or collapsed into a flattened state for storage. Please refer toFIGS. 1 and 2. A collapsible drawer 1 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention includes a bottom wall 10, a front wall 20, a leftwall 30, a right wall 40 and a rear wall 50. Lower edges of the frontwall 20, the left and right walls 30, 40, and the rear wall 50 arerespectively pivotally connected to a front edge, a left edge, a rightedge and a rear edge of the bottom wall 10, so that the front wall 20,the left and right walls 30, 40, and the rear wall 50 are pivotallyturnable relative to the bottom wall 10 between an upright position anda folded-down position.

A raised wall 11, 12, 13 is formed along each of the left, right andrear edges of the bottom wall 10. Each of the raised walls 11, 12, 13has more than two protruded blocks 111, 121, 131 provided on an innerside thereof. Each of the protruded blocks is formed with a through hole112, 122, 132. Referring to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, the lower edges of theleft and right walls 30, 40 and the rear wall 50 are respectively formedwith recesses 31, 41, 51 corresponding to the protruded blocks 111, 121,131, so that the protruded blocks 111, 121, 131 can be respectivelyreceived in the recesses 31, 41, 51. Protuberances 32, 42, 52 arerespectively provided on inner wall faces of the recesses 31, 41, 51 onthe left and right walls 30, 40 and the rear wall 50. The protuberances32, 42, 52 are extended into the through holes 112, 122, 132 of thecorresponding protruded blocks 111, 121, 131, so that the left and rightwalls 30, 40 and the rear wall 50 are pivotally turnable about theprotuberances 32, 42, 52 relative to the bottom wall 10. Thus, the leftand right walls 30, 40 can be pivotally turned to a folded-down positionto flatly lie on the bottom wall 10, as shown in FIG. 8. The raised wall13 at the rear edge of the bottom wall 10 has a height larger than thatof the raised walls 11, 12 at the left and right edges of the bottomwall 10. Therefore, after the left and right walls 30, 40 are turned tolie on the bottom wall 10, the rear wall 50 can be further turned to afolded-down position to lie over the folded-down left and right walls30, 40, as shown in FIG. 14.

Please now refer to FIGS. 2 and 6. Each of the raised walls 11, 12 atthe left and right edges of the bottom wall 10 has a front end, on a topof which a transverse pin hole 14 is provided. The front wall 10 isprovided on an inner face at positions corresponding to the two pinholes 14 with two pairs of lugs 21. The lugs 21 each are formed with athrough hole 211. Two insertion pins 22 can be separately extendedthrough the through holes 211 on the two pairs of lugs 21 and the pinholes 14 corresponding thereto, so as to pivotally connect the frontwall 20 to the bottom wall 10, allowing the front wall 20 to pivotallyturn about the insertion pins 22 relative to the bottom wall 10. Sincethe pin holes 14 on the bottom wall 10 are located at a position higherthan that of the raised walls 11, 12 at the left and right edges of thebottom wall 10, the front wall 20 being turned to the folded-downposition is lying over the folded-down left and right walls 30, 40, asshown in FIG. 14.

When the left and right walls 30, 40 and the rear wall 50 are extendedto the upright position, the lower edges of the left and right walls 30,40 and the rear wall 50 are respectively abutted against a top of theraised walls 11, 12, 13 at the left, right and rear edges of the bottomwall 10, preventing the left and right walls 30, 40 and the rear wall 50from being further turned outward and kept in the upright position. Whenthe front wall 20 is in the upright position, the inner face thereof ispressed against the front edge of the bottom wall 10, preventing thefront wall 20 from being further turned outward and kept in the uprightposition. Referring to FIG. 7, an L-shaped hook 25 is provided on theinner face of the front wall 20 at a lower edge thereof, and a downwardprojected plate 15 is provided on a lower front portion of the bottomwall 10 to correspond to the L-shaped hook 25. The L-shaped hook 25 canbe hooked to the downward projected plate 15 to thereby keep the frontwall 20 in the upright position as shown in FIG. 7. In practicalimplementation of the present invention, the downward projected plate 15can also be the front edge of the bottom wall 10.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, a left hook 23 and a right hook 24 areprovided on the inner face of the front wall 20 at predeterminedpositions. The left hook 23 has a distal hooking end 231 being turnedleftward. The right hook 24 has a distal hooking end 241 being turnedrightward. Similarly, a left hook 53 and a right hook 54 are provided onan inner face of the rear wall 50 at predetermined positions. The lefthook 53 has a distal hooking end 531 being turned leftward. The righthook 54 has a distal hooking end 541 being turned rightward. As can beseen in FIG. 3, a front through hole 33 and a rear through hole 34 areformed on an inner face of the left wall 30 at positions respectivelycorresponding to the distal hooking ends 231, 531 of the left hooks 23,53 on the front wall 20 and the rear wall 50, allowing the distalhooking ends 231, 531 to extend through the front and rear through holes33, 34, respectively. Similarly, as can be seen in FIG. 4, a frontthrough hole 43 and a rear through hole 44 are formed on an inner faceof the right wall 40 at positions respectively corresponding to thedistal hooking ends 241, 541 of the right hooks 24, 54 on the front wall20 and the rear wall 50, allowing the distal hooking ends 241, 541 toextend through the front and rear through holes 43, 44, respectively.

When the drawer 1 is in the extended state for use, front edges of theleft and right walls 30, 40 are abutted on the inner face of the frontwall 20 to prevent the front wall 20 from turning. In addition, theL-shaped hook 25 provided on the inner face of the front wall 20 at thelower edge thereof is hooked to the downward projected plate 15 at thelower front edge of the bottom wall 10, allowing the front wall 20 to bemore securely held to the upright position. In the meantime, rear edgesof the left and right walls 30, 40 are abutted on the inner face of therear wall 50 to prevent the rear wall 50 from turning. Moreover, in theupright position, the left and right walls 30, 40 are locked to thefront wall 20 and the rear wall 50 by the left hooks 23, 53 and righthooks 24, 54, respectively, without the risk of being unexpectedlyturned and folded to thereby ensure good structural strength andreliable use of the drawer 1 in the extended state.

To extend the drawer 1 from the collapsed state for use, first turn thefront wall 20 and the rear wall 50 from the folded-down position to theupright position as shown in FIG. 8. Then, turn the right wall 40, forexample, from the folded-down position to the upright position. In thepresent invention, the bottom wall 10, the left and right walls 30, 40,the front wall 20, and the rear wall 50 are made of a plastic material.With an inherent elasticity of the plastic material, the right wall 40can be forced to move across the right hook 24 on the front wall 20 (notshown) and across the right hook 54 on the rear wall 50 as shown in FIG.9. Thereafter, the distal hooking ends 241, 541 of the right hooks 24,54 on the front and rear walls 20, 50 are respectively extended throughthe front and the rear through hole 43, 44 on the right wall 40 tothereby hold the right wall 40 to the upright position, as shown in FIG.10. And then, turn the left wall 30 from the folded-down position to theupright position, and force the left wall 30 to move across the lefthook 23 on the front wall 20 as shown in FIG. 11 and across the lefthook 53 on the rear wall 50 (not shown). Thereafter, the distal hookingends 231, 531 of the left hooks 23, 53 are respectively extended throughthe front and the rear through holes 33, 34 on the left wall 30 tothereby hold the left wall 30 to the upright position. At this point,the drawer 1 is fully unfolded to the extended state as shown in FIG. 1.In the present invention, both the distal hooking ends 531, 541 of theleft and right hooks 53, 54 on the rear wall 50 are in a forked U-shape,so that two free ends of both the forked distal hooking ends 531, 541are elastically compressible toward each other. Further, the distalhooking ends 531, 541 of the left and right hooks 53, 54 are provided onrespective free ends at two opposite outer sides thereof with avertically protruded rib 532, 542 each. Once the distal hooking ends531, 541 are respectively extended through and beyond the rear throughholes 34, 44 on the left and right walls 30, 40, the two free endsthereof elastically expand with the protruded ribs 532, 542 beingabutted on an outer periphery of the rear through holes 34, 44, as shownin FIG. 12. Similarly, both the distal hooking ends 231, 241 of the leftand right hooks 23, 24 on the front wall 20 are in a forked U-shape, sothat two free ends of both the forked distal hooking ends 231, 241 areelastically compressible toward each other. Further, the distal hookingends 231, 241 of the left and right hooks 23, 24 are provided onrespective free ends at two opposite outer sides thereof with avertically protruded rib 232, 242. Once the distal hooking ends 231, 241are respectively extended through and beyond the front through holes 33,43 on the left and right walls 30, 40, the two free ends thereofelastically expand with the protruded ribs 232, 242 being abutted on anouter periphery of the front through holes 33, 43, as shown in FIG. 13.With the left and right walls 30, 40 being locked to between the frontwall 20 and the rear wall 50 by the left hooks 23, 53 and the righthooks 24, 54, respectively, the left and right walls 30, 40, the frontwall 20, and the rear wall 50 are more securely connected togetherwithout the risk of easily becoming loosed or detached from one another.

To change the drawer 1 from the extended state into the collapsed state,the left wall 30 and the right wall 40 are sequentially folded downfirst. To fold down the left wall 30, first compress the two free endsof both the distal hooking ends 231, 531 toward each other and apply aminor force to pull the left wall 30 outward, so that the left hooks 23,53 on the front and rear walls 20, 50 are separated from the front andrear through holes 33, 34 on the left wall 30. Then, apply a minor forceto pull the front wall 20 and the rear wall 50 outward, allowing theleft wall 30 to be inward moved across the left hooks 23, 53 and turnedtoward the bottom wall 10 into the folded-down position as shown in FIG.10. Thereafter, compress the two free ends of both the distal hookingends 241, 541 toward each other and apply a minor force to pull theright wall 40 outward, so that the right hooks 24, 54 on the front andrear walls 20, 50 are separated from the front and rear through holes43, 44 on the right wall 40. Then, apply a minor force to pull the frontwall 20 and the rear wall 50 outward, allowing the right wall 40 to beinward moved across the right hooks 24, 54 and turned toward the bottomwall 10 into the folded-down position as shown in FIG. 8. Finally, therear wall 50 and the front wall 20 are inward folded down to bring thedrawer 1 into the fully collapsed state, as shown in FIG. 14. It shouldbe noted that, before folding down the front wall 20, it is necessary tofirst release the L-shaped hook 25 on the front wall 20 from the bottomwall 10.

As aforesaid, before the left and right walls 30, 40 and the front andrear walls 20, 50 can be folded to collapse the drawer 1, the free endsof the distal hooking ends 231, 531 and 241, 541 of the left and righthooks 23, 53 and 24, 54 must first be compressed toward each other; andthen, the left and right walls 30, 40 are outward pulled, and the frontand rear walls 20, 50 are outward pulled. It is not able to complete thefolding operation if the above procedures are not performed step bystep. Therefore, the drawer 1 is safe for use without the risk ofautomatically becoming collapsed due to any unexpected conditions.

With the above arrangements, the collapsible drawer according to thepresent invention can be folded down into a flattened state tofacilitate easy storage, warehousing, and transport thereof. Thecollapsible drawer can be used with various types of sectional racks tolargely reduce an overall packing size of the sectional racks to save alarge amount of freight cost thereof. Thus, the collapsible drawer ofthe present invention is a novel, practical and ideal design.

The present invention has been described with a preferred embodimentthereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in thedescribed embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scopeand the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only bythe appended claims.

1. A collapsible drawer, comprising a bottom wall, a left wall, a rightwall, a rear wall, and a front wall; the front wall, the left wall, theright wall and the rear wall being pivotally connected at respectivelower edge to a front edge, a left edge, a right edge and a rear edge ofthe bottom wall, and therefore being pivotally turnable relative to thebottom wall between an upright position and a folded-down position; thecollapsible drawer being characterized in that: a left hook and a righthook are provided on an inner face of the front wall, and the left andthe right hook each having a distal hooking end being turned leftwardand rightward, respectively; a left hook and a right hook are providedon an inner face of the rear wall, and the left and the right hook eachhaving a distal hooking end being turned leftward and rightward,respectively; the left wall is formed on an inner face at positionscorresponding to the distal hooking ends of the left hooks on the frontand rear walls with a front and a rear through hole, through which thedistal hooking ends of the left hooks on the front and rear walls can beextended, respectively; and the right wall is formed on an inner face atpositions corresponding to the distal hooking ends of the right hooks onthe front and rear walls with a front and a rear through hole, throughwhich the distal hooking ends of the right hooks on the front and rearwalls can be extended, respectively.
 2. The collapsible drawer asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the distal hooking ends of the left andright hooks on the front wall are in a forked U-shape to have two spacedfree ends each, the free ends of the distal hooking ends beingelastically compressible toward each other; and the distal hooking endsof the left and right hooks being provided on respective free ends attwo opposite outer sides thereof with a vertically protruded rib each;whereby when the distal hooking ends are respectively extended throughand beyond the front through holes on the left and right walls, the twofree ends thereof elastically expand with the protruded ribs thereofbeing abutted on an outer periphery of the front through holes.
 3. Thecollapsible drawer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distal hookingends of the left and right hooks on the rear wall are in a forkedU-shape to have two spaced free ends each, the free ends of the distalhooking ends being elastically compressible toward each other; and thedistal hooking ends of the left and right hooks being provided onrespective free ends at two opposite outer sides thereof with avertically protruded rib each; whereby when the distal hooking ends arerespectively extended through and beyond the rear through holes on theleft and right walls, the two free ends thereof elastically expand withthe protruded ribs thereof being abutted on an outer periphery of therear through holes.
 4. The collapsible drawer as claimed in claim 1,wherein the bottom wall is provided along a left, a right, and a rearedge with a raised wall each, whereby when the left and right walls andthe rear wall are located in the upright position, bottom edges of theleft and right walls and the rear wall are abutted against a top of theraised walls at the left, right and rear edges of the bottom wall. 5.The collapsible drawer as claimed in claim 4, wherein the raised wall atthe rear edge of the bottom wall has a height larger than that of theraised walls at the left and right edges of the bottom wall.
 6. Thecollapsible drawer as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of the raisedwalls at the left and right edges of the bottom wall has a front end, ona top of which a transverse pin hole is provided for an insertion pin toextend therethrough; and wherein the front wall is provided on the innerface at positions corresponding to the two pin holes with two pairs oflugs, and the lugs each being formed with a through hole; whereby whentwo insertion pins are separately extended through the through holes onthe two pairs of lugs and the pin holes corresponding thereto, the frontwall is connected to the bottom wall and is pivotally turnable about theinsertion pins relative to the bottom wall.
 7. The collapsible drawer asclaimed in claim 6, wherein the front wall is provided on the inner faceat a lower edge thereof with an L-shaped hook, and a downward projectedplate is provided on the bottom wall at a lower front edge thereofcorresponding to the L-shaped hook; and the L-shaped hook being able tohook to the downward projected plate to thereby keep the front wall inthe upright position.
 8. The collapsible drawer as claimed in claim 6,wherein the pin holes on the bottom wall are located at a positionhigher than that of the raised walls at the left and right edges of thebottom wall.